Amazon... Activate!

Peter Prestipino

Posted on 10.17.2013

Amazon is the Web's largest ecommerce retailer but the role it plays in technology in general (and the cloud specifically) is also immense. It's not easy to comprehend all that's involved with the cloud, but Amazon is giving it a shot and helping startups along the way.

The company just announced a new service dubbed AWS Activate, that allows startups to put Amazon's online services to the test (and for free). AWS Activate is essentially a structured package of resources offering AWS credits, training, developer support and, yes, even some special offers from third parties.

AWS Activate is organized into two packages – a Self-Starter package, which any startup can apply for, and a Portfolio package, which can be applied for by startups in select accelerator, incubator, venture capital seed funds or entrepreneur organizations. Each package includes varied levels of resources to help fit customers’ needs.

“Many of the world’s most successful startups already build their businesses on the AWS cloud. Based on feedback from VCs, startups and entrepreneurs, we developed AWS Activate to help even more startup organizations get going quickly by leveraging AWS to help build their business. We’re happy to offer this to startups of all kinds from around the world today,” said Adam Selipsky, Vice President, Amazon Web Services.